I'm not going to profess to be anything other than a douchebag with minimal knowledge of the Bills. But, what I do know about the Bills is that they're a good screen team. Not a late-Knox n Flores-era "we screen because we suck" screen team. But, an Andy Reid, the screen is part of our attack, we're GOOD at it, screen team.

Smith will obviously help with his speed. And while raw, Lane likes to mix it up and tackle. If he can stay disciplined, his physicality may be a welcomed sign Sunday.

Lane is great at coverage if his punt coverage is any indicator. He is always right on top of the opponent, and also typically is the guy catching or downing the ball, or tackling the returner. Those three skills are of vital importance at CB. If you can run step for step with a guy, then that is battle #1 (and something Jennings was great at, and why he had a lot of potential, he was always near his man, typically within one step). I'll skip ahead to the third, and that is tackling the guy if he makes the catch. Jennings was also good at this (another reason he was ranked so high, because for his small size, he was always right on top of his guy and could stop the YAC without much issue). The second issue is where Lane has shown a good ability (albeit on punt coverage) and that is staying on his guy, eyes on the returner (receiver), and making the tackle, but also having the presence to know where the ball is while doing the other two. This was the one area that was Kelly's weakness and it just seems that it is innate. Either you have it or you don't. It was frustrating because he was right on his man, and would knock him out of bounds or tackle him immediately, but the ball would just seem to sneak through or over the top. This is a skill that I think is innate with Lane and why he will be a successful corner. He seems to have those 3 main qualities, and like you said.... the dude mixes it up. He's a smaller guy, but I've seen him smash some guys and he doesn't take any of that handfighting BS along the sideline. He is intense but controlled. I like it and think he has grown on me with each passing week.

Unfortunately, Leroy will be back starting vs Buffalo, although they will be splitting time. Hopefully, Smith gets the bulk of the snaps because we need somebody that's quick enough to cover the short middle.

SharkHawk wrote:Lane is great at coverage if his punt coverage is any indicator. He is always right on top of the opponent, and also typically is the guy catching or downing the ball, or tackling the returner. Those three skills are of vital importance at CB. If you can run step for step with a guy, then that is battle #1 (and something Jennings was great at, and why he had a lot of potential, he was always near his man, typically within one step). I'll skip ahead to the third, and that is tackling the guy if he makes the catch. Jennings was also good at this (another reason he was ranked so high, because for his small size, he was always right on top of his guy and could stop the YAC without much issue). The second issue is where Lane has shown a good ability (albeit on punt coverage) and that is staying on his guy, eyes on the returner (receiver), and making the tackle, but also having the presence to know where the ball is while doing the other two. This was the one area that was Kelly's weakness and it just seems that it is innate. Either you have it or you don't. It was frustrating because he was right on his man, and would knock him out of bounds or tackle him immediately, but the ball would just seem to sneak through or over the top. This is a skill that I think is innate with Lane and why he will be a successful corner. He seems to have those 3 main qualities, and like you said.... the dude mixes it up. He's a smaller guy, but I've seen him smash some guys and he doesn't take any of that handfighting BS along the sideline. He is intense but controlled. I like it and think he has grown on me with each passing week.

-The Glove- wrote:Unfortunately, Leroy will be back starting vs Buffalo, although they will be splitting time. Hopefully, Smith gets the bulk of the snaps because we need somebody that's quick enough to cover the short middle.

With you on this one. I was expecting Malcolm Smith to keep starting, I thought the Hawks D was better overall with Smith in there. Maybe Hill is healthy now and motivated. In any case, if PC thinks Hill is good enough to start over Smith, that's a happy problem to have. I just have a hunch that Hill was slowed more than we were told by injuries. Probably PC thinks Hill will be better, stouter against the run. Questionable. Smith is noticeably faster... looks like his 40 time is 4.45 vs. Hill's 4.65. Looks like Smith has RB wheels, or even "average/slow WR" wheels.